Empress of the Nile: The Daredevil Archaeologist Who Saved Egypt's Ancient Temples from Destruction

In the 1960s, an international campaign raced to save a dozen ancient Egyptian temples from flooding caused by the new Aswan High Dam. French archaeologist Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt led this unprecedented rescue effort, which involved dismantling and relocating fragile sandstone temples to higher ground. Without her intervention, temples including the Temple of Dendur—now at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art—would have been submerged. Desroches-Noblecourt was determined and willful, refusing to be intimidated by powerful figures. During World War II, she had been imprisoned by the Nazis while serving in the French Resistance. In her campaign to save the temples, she confronted Egypt's President Abdel Nasser and France's President Charles de Gaulle. She also received support from Jacqueline Kennedy, America's First Lady, who convinced her husband to help fund the rescue. This complex project represented a shift in Western engagement with Egyptian cultural heritage, preserving rather than plundering ancient monuments.